Politico has published a just-leaked memo
from an insider on Dubya's 2004 reelection team. In the light of
Obama's "evolution," this guy now says that GOP strategists should
abandon the losing battle against same-sex marriage.

Background: in view of this week’s news on the same sex marriage issue, here is a summary of recent survey findings on same sex marriage:

Support for same sex marriage has been growing and in the last few
years support has grown at an accelerated rate with no sign of slowing
down. A review of public polling shows that up to 2009 support for gay
marriage increased at a rate of 1% a year. Starting in 2010 the
change in the level of support accelerated to 5% a year. The most
recent public polling shows supporters of gay marriage outnumber
opponents by a margin of roughly 10% (for instance: NBC / WSJ poll in
February / March: support 49%, oppose 40%).

The
increase in support is taking place among all partisan groups. While
more Democrats support gay marriage than Republicans, support levels
among Republicans are increasing over time. The same is true of age:
younger people support same sex marriage more often than older people,
but the trends show that all age groups are rethinking their position.

Polling
conducted among Republicans show that majorities of Republicans and
Republican leaning voters support extending basic legal protections to
gays and lesbians. These include majority Republican support for:

Protecting gays and lesbians against being fired for reasons of sexual orientation

Protections against bullying and harassment

Repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.

Right to visit partners in hospitals

Protecting partners against loss of home in case of severe medical emergencies or death

Legal protection in some form for gay couples whether it be same sex
marriage or domestic partnership (only 29% of Republicans oppose legal
recognition in any form).

Recommendation: A statement reflecting recent developments on this issue along the following lines:“People
who believe in equality under the law as a fundamental principle, as I
do, will agree that this principle extends to gay and lesbian couples;
gay and lesbian couples should not face discrimination and their
relationship should be protected under the law. People who disagree on
the fundamental nature of marriage can agree, at the same time, that
gays and lesbians should receive essential rights and protections such
as hospital visitation, adoption rights, and health and death
benefits.

I
have to give Peter Wallsten and Scott Wilson credit at the Washington
Post for crediting our own Joe Sudbay with being the person who got
President Obama to say he's evolving on gay marriage. A lot of
reporters fail to mention who hit was who got the ball rolling on this
issue.

Romney
adviser
Eric Fehrnstrom
Eric Fehrnstrom is called Mitt Romney's "most trusted" adviser. Well it
seems that Mr. Romney's most trusted adviser is alleged to have
"glee"-fully outed a transgender women, ending her career in politics.
This from GQ:
Fehrnstrom saved his cheap shots for smaller-time Massachusetts pols.

The
Daily Dish has a video of Mitt Romney talking about defending the
traditional definition of marriage that's existed for 3,000 years. In
the case of Romney's family, that traditional definition involved
polygamy.
As the Daily Dish notes, Romney's family even abandoned the United
States for Mexico, after the US government clamped down on polygamists
over a century ago.Romney says that...

Romney
seems to have decided that the only way can win the general election
against President Obama is to swing even further to the far-right than
he did during the primaries (I know the primaries aren't over, but they
really are). This is actually quite surprising. He's going to turn off
independents if he keeps pandering to the far right.
From CBS News: Republican presidential...